Publishing opportunities specific to law librarianship are limited, but librarians have found that their knowledge and expertise give them the flexibility to publish in interdisciplinary studies as well. Law librarians are regularly adding to the professional literature of law, librarianship, legal education, research, technology, and current awareness issues. Certainly print materials dominate, but writing for e-journals, web sites, and computer-assisted instruction showcase the profession’s talents, too. This session explored the experiences of some librarians and library groups. The panel was composed of Carol Bannen, Director, Information Resources, Reinhart, Boerner, Van Deuren, S.C.; Shannon Gilreath, Law Librarian and Associate Professor of Law and Divinity, Wake Forest University; and George Pike, Law Library Director and Assistant Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh.
Ms. Bannen began by describing Wisconsin’s regional AALL chapter (LLAW) efforts to organize opportunities for publication in local bar and law-related organization publications. LLAW established a committee to develop these opportunities and identify authors for articles. The committee approached the state bar association and presented possible topics for articles. Upon approval, the committee began collecting articles for submission from librarians within the organization. Wisconsin librarians also publish regularly in the Wisconsin Law Journal, a weekly newspaper, and the Wisconsin Association of Legal Administrators’ quarterly publication, Class Action.
Professor Gilreath talked about the practical aspects of writing and submitting works to publishers. He stressed the importance of writing on topics that interest you, and he advised authors to be persistent about submitting materials. The publishers are there; it is a matter of locating the one for which your writing is appropriate.
Regarding format and pay for submitted works, articles are usually submitted in completed format and the author is, in most cases, not paid for the work. Books are less likely to be submitted whole. It is usually sufficient to submit an idea for a book with a cover letter that outlines the chapter and a writing sample that represents the work. Publishers will pay authors for books, and they may offer an advance, which some academic authors use to pay research assistants.
Professor Pike, columnist for the monthly Information Today, advised the audience to make their areas of professional interest known. Publishing opportunities are sometimes redirected or referred by helpful colleagues who are aware of your interests. If you are looking for appropriate subject matter for articles to submit, try monitoring news pages and services and maintaining a folder of items of current interest. In an academic setting, not all works will contribute toward the author’s tenure; however, an active publishing record and name-recognition can be viewed favorably by the dean.
Not only did the panel field some interesting questions, many of the participants had additional comments and advice to share. One of the editors of Online magazine encouraged submissions and advised that authors do not 1) submit to multiple publishers at the same time, or 2) submit to publishers without investigating a publisher’s intended audience. CALI contributors were present who noted that CALI does pay for authored works.
One participant referenced the services provided by Expresso. Expresso (http://law.bepress.com/expresso), per the web site, is a service that is available to all legal scholars. The service helps authors manage the manuscript submission process by identifying appropriate sources for publication; actively maintaining submission policies of over 450 law reviews; checking your file format for submissions; and mailing out your cover letter, article, and CV, if you have submitted one, for each law review you are considering. Costs are minimal and institutional accounts are available as well as individual accounts. Electronically delivered manuscripts cost $2.00/ law review. Expresso will print and mail submissions to a select number of publishers for $6.50/mailing.
Some law faculties hold workshops to discuss publications in process and to get feedback from colleagues. One school holds a “Half-Baked” workshop where faculty come together to share their ideas and receive publishing mentoring. The panel addressed collegial feedback with additional suggestions. Professor Gilreath noted that such criticism, though constructive, can be difficult to accept, and the author’s first reaction may be to disagree. It is, of course, not necessary to integrate all suggestions, and in general, comments focus on expanding certain areas, removing unnecessary arguments, or directing attention to additional resources that might be helpful. Professor Pike suggested that rather than a formal review, consultations can be performed informally by wandering to another faculty office to discuss a particular section or argument. This tends to reduce the stress of collegial review, not to mention the time commitment of the reviewing faculty.
In keeping with the topic of the presentation, the panel was asked about publishing within an area of personal interest rather than an area of professional expertise. Since this, in most cases, would assume a degree of expertise in another scholarly area, it is best to accentuate your qualifications in a cover letter to the publisher, along with a sample paragraph of your writing. The book, Writers’ Market, was referenced as a good resource for learning how to approach publishers and what documents to include in your correspondence with them.
The session was filled with practical information from both panel members and participants. The interest generated was obvious by the active question and answer phase. It is encouraging to see the interest among librarians in sharing knowledge with each other, both the substantive knowledge of our profession and helpful hints for making that knowledge available to others.